Sunday, April 16, 2017

#1 - I've been working on my Etsy shop and sourcing vintage SARI's and dupatta's from India and lovely sparkly, shiny TIARA's from overseas, which has been loads of fun! What's better than silk and shinies! ;)

#2 - I threw together a late 18th century jacket (1780's) for the Francaise Dinner this year in Anapolis, but I'm not yet happy with the fit, so I'll be doing some fixes and adding more trim before a re-wear.

#3 - I took part in Learning to Costume's Fabulousity Club Flea Market last weekend in Philly, which was super fun! I spent most of my modest earnings on more silk and tiara's for my personal stash, but hey, can ya blame a gal?!? LOL

Next up is a late 18th century jacket for my hb that I need to finish in the next few weeks for Williamsburg, and then I need to start working on my Costume College class prep in earnest! 3 class workshops means a LOT of kit preparation, wish me luck!

Saturday, March 4, 2017

LOL, I proposed 3 classes for Costume College 2017 and said I'd teach 2, which I thought would be a lot over the long weekend and then they asked me to teach all 3 and I said YES. One on Friday and two on Sunday! I'm excited, but it means less time to take classes or hang out during CoCo, plus lots of prep work ahead and a lot less CoCo sewing time, and being super exhausted on Sunday. Super excited though!

Here's my 3 classes I'm teaching!

1) Winter Wear - Muff Workshop

Want to be warm at your next historical event? Come work on a versatile muff, a hand warmer, popular throughout much of history! We'll make a fashionable 18th to 19th century silk portrait muff, to slip over provided muff insides made of 100% white goose down (or down alternative if requested), trimmed in silk ribbon with silk ties. A brief overview of muff history and extant examples discussed. Students may complete their muff in class or outside of class, depending on how quickly you sew!

Reproducing fashion plates is all about the details. Come learn reverse applique, a technique of taking two fabrics, one on top of the other, cutting back the top into a desired shape and sewing it down, to reveal the bottom fabric. This skill can take your dress to the next level: the added detail in your gown or outfit will change the finished look of your gown! The focus of this skills class will be on reverse applique, and how it can be applied to your early 19th century Regency wardrobe, but the skill can be applied to many eras!

In the 18th and through the 19th centuries, a sewing kit known as a ‘housewife’, was used to store and carry around sewing supplies of the day, including scissors, thread, needles, and also jewelry and money. Come join us to make your very own fashionable 18th or 19th century 'housewife' sewing kit, and see how small scraps of beautiful fabric can be turned into useful things! These housewives can be used not only as a small sewing kit, but can be tweaked to take jewelry with you on the go!

Should be lots of fun! I taught a non-portrait muff class at Dress U and Dress U the 2nd, as well as a similar Regency Detailing class. The muff class is for a portrait muff and the Regency detailing class is re-vamped, and Housewife/Huswif class is brand new!

Monday, January 2, 2017

Well, it's 2017, the year I need to finally get a few long-planned outfits done like my first Robe a la Francaise, jacket/s for my husband, and get foundation garments (my least favorite) done for new era's: Victorian, 1830's and proper Edwardian.

Continue to sew and integrate creative arts into sewing: creativity with trim, painting and more. Sew under creative inspiration.

Goal #2: sew more MEN'S garments

Really focus on getting a few things done for my husband in 2017. He doesn't costume with me more than a few times a year, but I need to make him some jackets!

Goal #3: work on my LONG-term sewing plans

2017 is the year of Victorian for me! I'm starting with 1880's bustle, with full foundation garments up first. I also would like to get to my 1830's finally in 2017. Continue to make foundation garments for new eras and re-do's for eras I already do. Continue to stretch into new eras. Finish my first Robe a la Francaise. Continue to build a wardrobe of options :).

Other goals:

It's the year of foundation garments for me! It's about time for new Regency and late 18th century stays, and I also need to make stays for new eras I want to do: Victorian, 1830's, Edwardian.

Continue with lots of HAND-sewing projects ready to go at a moment's notice. Continue to plan and sew for events in advance, low pressure sewing is the most enjoyable. Continue to sew from the STASH. Continue to de-stash where I can, but also continue to acquire lovely fabrics that inspire creativity, as long as I sew them within 6 months or so of acquiring them wherever possible. UFO's pile if there's time.

Sunday, January 1, 2017

My 2016 SEWING:
For the amount of time I sewed it was productive: I was able to get a few new outfits done, including my Gala gown for Coco, class prep for CoCo and quite a bit of sewing done for my Etsy shop.

This one was so fun to make and wear: an early 19th century Napoelonic era Regency bee open court robe and gown:

'Bees, Bees, Bees' Napoleonic era open robe and court gown

I did pretty decent in following my 2016 goals of #1) sew for CREATIVITY and #3) work on my LONG-term sewing plans, but not as much on #2) sew more MEN's garments. Other smaller goals were lots of HAND-sewing (yes!), sewing for events in advance (yup) and sew from the STASH (I sewed from the stash a lot but I also both purged and added to the stash, so...sort of?). And also complete some UFO's when I can, which I did a few of and added a lot more to the UFO pile, lol.

The LONG-term sewing plans means getting going with new eras and working on foundation garments, which I did at the end of the year: Victorian corsets in the works. Also I have a Robe a la Francaise half complete and I made my first ever Regency sari dress, woohoo! So a good amount of work on long-term sewing plans this year. I didn't accomplish as many of the specific plans as I wanted, but did manage to get a lot of creative sewing in during 2016, which I really enjoyed!

PLANNED to do in 2016, but didn't or made progress but didn't finish:
-Robe a la Francaise including new petticoat & shoes: shoes not yet, but the dress is cut out and the bodice lining sewn together, in progress, will finish in 2017

-Corsets/Stays - Victorian and/or start working on new late 18th or early 19th century ones:
started two Victorian corsets that are in progress now

-Creative fun & colorful costume to wear to CC - no time
-Something 1920's-1940's - pushed off for a later date
-Late 18th century men's jacket for HB - not yet
-Early 19th century men's jacket for HB - not yet
-Early 19th century Regency bee spencer - so excited but not yet
-Tiffany blue marabou robe/lounging gown - nope, started to drape it but not yet
-Some form of 18th century dress or jacket with a hood - just because - not yet
-And more things covered in marabou. And fur. Because yeah. - not much, soon!